t it all up
before you get here?" he asked, as he reached out for the fish.

"Stop!" shrieked Jerry, and gave Little Joe a push, just as the latter
touched the fish.

Snap! A pair of wicked steel jaws flew together and caught Little Joe
Otter by a claw of one toe. If it hadn't been for Jerry's push, he would
have been caught by a foot.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" cried Little Joe Otter.

"Next time I guess you'll remember what Grandfather Frog said about
watching out when you find things to eat where they never were before,"
said Jerry, as he helped Little Joe pull himself free from the trap. But
he left the claw behind and had a dreadfully sore toe as a result.
Then they buried the trap deep down in the mud and started to look for
another.

All around the Smiling Pool and along the Laughing Brook their cousins
and uncles and aunts and friends were just as busy, and every once in a
while some one would have just as narrow an escape as Little Joe Otter.
And all the time up at the farmhouse Farmer Brown's boy was planning
what he would do with the skins of the little animals he was sure he
would catch in his traps.

CHAPTER VI: Farmer Brown's Boy Is Puzzled

Farmer Brown's boy was whistling merrily as he tramped down across the
Green Meadows. The Merry Little Breezes saw him coming, and they raced
over to the Smiling Pool to tell Billy Mink. Farmer Brown's boy was
coming to visit his traps. He was very sure that he would find Billy
Mink or Little Joe Otter, or Jerry Muskrat, or perhaps Bobby Coon.

Billy Mink was sitting on top of the Big Rock. He saw the Merry Little
Breezes racing across the Green Meadows, and behind them he saw Farmer
Brown's boy. Billy Mink dived head first into the Smiling Pool. Then
he swam over to Jerry Muskrat's house and warned Jerry. Together they
hunted up Little Joe Otter, and then the three little scamps in brown
hid in the bulrushes, where they could watch Farmer Brown's boy.

The first place Farmer Brown's boy visited was Jerry Muskrat's old log.
Very cautiously he peeped over the edge of the bank. The trap was gone!

"Hurrah!" shouted Farmer Brown's boy. He was very much excited, as he
caught hold of the end of the chain, which fastened it to the old log.
He was sure that at last he had caught Jerry Muskrat. When he pulled the
trap up, it was empty. Between the jaws were a few hairs and a little
bit of skin, which Jerry Muskrat had left there when he sprung the trap
with his tail.

Fa